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How dare you try to be sensible in Kwara State? It is the most difficult thing to do in the state with the stationed media bullies that are bound to be found in every corner of Kwara. Once you speak for or against, the self-appointed opinion shapers believe you are incapable of forming your own opinions on issues except you are sponsored. Being sensible is difficult here – as they practically believe it is impossible to be nonpartisan.
This must be one of the reasons Thomas Sowell stated in one of his books titled “Wealth, Poverty and Politics” that even among *scholars and intelligent people, the search for truth has too often been narrowed to searching for “blame” or “taking sides”.* In fact, submitting to superior opinions is difficult and matters that affect us as people are treated like intramural debates among intellectuals and politicians.
We send our principles on exile and defend actions, turn politics to the art of postponing important decisions until they are no longer relevant through media.
The victims of this status-quo are analysts, writers and political commentators, especially when you are speaking against the government, you automatically get *sarakified or labelled as unprogressive and ranting opposition.* Who is even progressive? That’s a discussion for another day.
They forgot that opinions and facts are usually competing against opposing ideologies and theories. While the media tactics are to attack, blame happenings on the sixteen years governance of the opposition party in the state and attack personalities, family, name-calling and others, nothing else.
The media intimidation is so brutal that too often you get discouraged to comment on social issues as intentions and goodwill are whimsically misunderstood.
Likewise, everything in the state is politicized, your family name alone can deprive you of benefits as a citizen, most importantly be punished for the decisions of ancestors you didn’t chose. The invention of fake news in 2015 general elections continued to escape scrutiny and the damage remains immeasurable.
Words such as justice, equity, equality, good governance, welfare, honesty, neutrality and politics have become chameleon-like and escape social scrutiny to the point of failing to draw a sharp distinction between them. They have successfully become ideologically and politically attractive package used by the intelligentsia and political class.
When they come across those who do not want to be trapped by such words, the question comes “how dare you to try to be sensible?”.
In the 21st century, we still can’t draw a sharp distinction between *morality and causation.* For instance, when matters such as British colonisation and underdevelopment of our country are dismissed as *moral sentiment and not causation,* it does not only hit hard, such position confuses them. Whereas it’s the truth, after all we are not the only nation to be colonized, yet others with similar experiences have surged to the front line of development. It means we either do not have the potential to fulfil the multiple requirement and factors for success or we’re defrauded of ideas.
To what extent does colonialism arrest our development? Spain brutalized virtually all her neighbours during the quest to build an empire but she is today one of the poorest countries in Europe. Those they brutalized moved ahead of them developmentally and economically. It means it’s a morally wrong issue but not the causation of backwardness. As long as factors that allowed the likes of Britain and Spain are no longer in place and backwardness is still felt, then the *search for “blame” should be converted to search for “causation”.* This is an important fact they must know.
The *sarakification and intimidation* by these fixated media bullies was purpose built: reduce everybody’s thinking to their level; struggling to pass verdict on the principles of guilt by association or relation; believing that the individual’s prosperity is automatically tied to politics. To them, every word of deep concern is in expectation of recognition and reward.
Nonetheless, we must still speak and dish out criticisms, and appraise the good even though at the tail end of the other wall, they see nothing good about others. We may not always succeed in the hands of these bullies, but if a lamp fails to glow once a while, everywhere would become dark. Inarguably, no one is more Kwaran than the other.
ISHOWO, Isiaq Oluwatosin.
tosinishowo2015@gmail.com
Twitter:@Tosinishowo
